FEAST – Food *Education * Agriculture * Solutions * Together – is a Community Foods Organizing event that provides a menu of methods to help communities mobilize around improving their local food system. The event includes a local panel of food system representatives, introduction to community food systems organizing and language, the identification of food system priorities and creation of a community foods organizing plan – plus a meal celebrating our local food provided by AJ & Sons Catering!

This event was originally created and facilitated by The Oregon Food Bank and has been used widely in communities all over the US. FEAST founder, Sharon Thornberry of The Oregon Food Bank will share her talents as an experienced facilitator at the September 24th event courtesy of the invitation of the Hawai`i Department of Health and the local Hawai`i Island Food System Stakeholders group. Funding for the event has been generously provided by the Hawai`i Department of Health and Kaiser Permanente Thrive.

No smell, no flies, no cleaning, no problems pig pens, a.k.a. Inoculated Deep Litter Systems, were the topic of the May 2015 Natural Farming Hawai’i meeting and potluck. For over 5 years over a dozen operations have proven why this is the NRCS best practice for swine waste management plans, because there’s nothing to clean up! All the waste is digested right on the living floor reducing labor and eliminating the need for water.

Your chickens on soldier flies. In just two weeks of feeding a diet supplemented by Black Soldier Flies, Robert Olivier of Compost Mania is able to increase the egg size by jaw dropping proportions. The egg on the far left is from the store, the egg in the middle was from before enriching the diet, and the egg on the right is now the common size from the flock.